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Details
LOT 0198
Byzantine Bronze Steelyard Weight of an Empress
5TH-6TH CENTURY A.D.
3 3/4 in. (630 grams, 94 mm).
Filled with lead and formed as the upper body of an empress wearing a pleated palla, her hair arranged in loose curls around the face, suspension loop to the head.
Provenance
Private collection, Europe.
Acquired by the current owner in 1999.
Accompanied by a copy of an Art Loss Register certificate no.S00038155.
Literature
Cf. the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York under accession number 67.154.1, for similar.
Footnotes
The choice of the image of the empress for an official weight may have been to display fairness and equality before the law in commercial matters, as well as to bolster the authority of the imperial family.
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